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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Mar 18, 2011

Indie scene aims for normalcy in unusual situation

As I write this on Tuesday afternoon, four days after the earthquake that hit northeastern Japan on March 11 and with the continuing drip, drip, drip of nerve-shaking news from the damaged nuclear reactors in Fukushima forming background noise to life in Tokyo, I see on the BBC news feed that Canadian...
EDITORIALS
Mar 17, 2011

Fukushima nuclear plant alert

The situation at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s No. 1 Fukushima nuclear power plant, damaged by the March 11 quake and tsunami, is worsening. Following hydrogen explosions in the No. 1 and No. 3 reactors Saturday and Monday, respectively, serious accidents occurred in the No. 2 and No. 4 reactors Monday...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Mar 17, 2011

Apache's foreign players prepare to leave country

The Tokyo Apache's season isn't officially over, but the team's American players and head coach, Bob Hill, were busy making plans to leave the country as soon as possible, The Japan Times has learned.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2011

Helpful websites, phone numbers

Locating family and friends:
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Mar 13, 2011

Sendai squad split in quake's aftermath

As expected, Sendai 89ers players, coaches and team staff left Sendai early Friday afternoon for a road trip to face the host and Eastern Conference rival Niigata Albirex BB.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Mar 10, 2011

Robocon founder Dr. Masahiro Mori

Dr. Masahiro Mori, 84, is a specialist in robotics and Emeritus President of the Robotics Society of Japan. Mori is the founder of Robocon, the robotics contest he started in 1981 when he was a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Since then, Robocon has developed into the world's most famous...
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2011

Edano named as temporary minister: Kan

Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Monday appointed Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano to temporarily double as foreign minister following Seiji Maehara's Sunday resignation for accepting illegal donations from a foreign national.
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2011

JR West taps low bond yields to refinance loans

West Japan Railway Co., starting the nation's newest bullet train service this week, is slashing interest costs by using the world's lowest bond yields to refinance government loans.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2011

More trade, less hunger

GENEVA — The recent sharp spike in food prices and growing concerns about food security have sparked anxiety worldwide. The possibility of being unable to put food on the table fills parents with a deep sense of foreboding. And because the world's poorest people spend a higher proportion of their income...
COMMENTARY
Mar 7, 2011

U.S. foreign aid hinders more than it helps

SEATTLE — The United States will run up a record $1.65 trillion deficit in 2011. Yet Washington keeps subsidizing foreign governments. House Republicans have targeted foreign aid. This year the State Department would lose 16 percent of its budget; humanitarian aid would drop by 41 percent.
COMMENTARY
Mar 4, 2011

Why worry about China's nuclear warheads?

SINGAPORE — Latest estimates by Western analysts put China's stockpile at 240 warheads, with 175 in active mode and 65 in reserve or waiting to be dismantled because they are considered too old for use.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2011

Don't strike Libya, Egyptian envoy says

Egyptian Ambassador Walid Mahmoud Abdelnasser expressed concern Wednesday over the violence in neighboring Libya but stressed that the international community shouldn't militarily intervene.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 27, 2011

Don't give up on Japan's kids

Last March, the president of Harvard University, Drew Gilpin Faust, visited Japan to find out for herself what has become of Japan's once-vibrant contribution to American academia. The numbers of Japanese students enrolling in Harvard have declined steadily over the past decade, and in September 2009...
Reader Mail
Feb 27, 2011

Failure rate climbs in final year

Regarding Joergen Jensen's Feb. 20 letter, "Holding students' feet to the fire": Jensen's implicit assumption is that it is very easy to pass examinations at Japanese universities and that Japanese universities only collect tuition fees but don't teach much. These are false assumptions.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Feb 27, 2011

Japanese TV funnymen target U.S.

In the popular U.S. TV series "Heroes," Japan-born actor Masi Oka played the role of Hiro Nakamura, who could travel through space and time. The series has now finished, of course, but Oka is still breaking down barriers that were once thought insurmountable — this time, however, he's doing it as a...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 27, 2011

Skipping the ads gets harder as shows become infomercials

In the late 1990s, I did piece work for a public relations company, translating achievement reports into English for its non-Japanese clients. The reports outlined how and where the company had secured mentions of its clients' products in various media, and included equivalent advertising value amounts...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 26, 2011

Here's Japan's big, white hope

I read a piece of news the other day that makes me feel that "Japan as No. 3" may finally be headed in the right direction.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 25, 2011

Western Union charges into the money transfer breach

After a new law governing foreign currency exchange takes effect in Japan, Western Union is first through the door.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Feb 24, 2011

Dr. Arihisa Fujimaki

Dr. Arihisa Fujimaki, 67, is the director of Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) Hospital in Tokyo. An expert in reconstructive microsurgery, this orthopedic surgeon regularly performs operations to re-attach fingers, toes, hands and the occasional foot. Fujimaki is a hero to many, from construction...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 23, 2011

How a fine sensei began my journey with language

You've probably heard the famous saying, 千里の道も一歩から (senri no michi mo ippo kara, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step), attributed to both 老子, Roshi, Laozi) and 孔子 (Kōshi, Confucius).
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 20, 2011

Taking a train to the snows

Tumbling down head over heels near the summit of a 2,000-meter mountain is the most fun I've had in ages. On a Monday, the sparsely peopled ski runs at Mitsumata resort in Niigata Prefecture were knee-deep in feather-soft powder snow: perfect conditions for cushioning even the nastiest of falls.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji